Lead guitarist Flattus Maximus Cory Smoot of the thrash metal, punk and shock-rock band Gwar.
Photograph: Robert E Klein/AP

Gwar have replaced their late lead singer with a warrior called Vulvatron. Following the death of frontman Dave Brockie, the costumed metal band will be led by a pair of demonic musicians, including a towering vocalist with blood-spurting breasts.

Vulvatron had her stage debut in Chicago on 12 September, performing with Gwar at Riot Fest. From now on, she will share microphone duties with the corpulent vocalist Blöthar – an armoured Scumdog who boasts shoulder-antlers and an udder. Together, according to Gwar’s mythology, they will lead a quest for the departed Oderus Urungus.

In real life, Vulvatron is the alter-ego of musician and artist Kim Dylla, who performed at Gwar’s 2013 barbecue and festival as part of the band Kung Fu Dykes. As Wondering Sound’s Kim Kelly pointed out, Dylla is Gwar’s first female member since back-up singer/dancer Danielle Stampe left in 2000. Unlike Stampe’s Slymenstra Hymen or prior characters like Amazina and Temptress, Vulvatron is not a side-show to the male-dominated band: she “command[s] a central role”, according to Kelly, “stepping away from her mic only long enough to battle her monstrous bandmates or spray the audience with goo”.

“Vulvatron is not dancing, or breathing fire, or keeping the slaves in line (though one assumes she’ll be adept at all three),” Kelly wrote. “She’s nobody’s girlfriend, or groupie or background dancer; Vulvatron is in charge ... Representation matters, and now, all of a sudden, there’s a big, brash, bold new female personality on stage with a legendary band. Moreover, she’s just as gross and goofy as her male bandmates, whether she’s slaying dinosaurs or disemboweling Nazi skinheads onstage or drenching her minions with ... [artificial] boob-blood.”

Gwar introduced Vulvatron by creating official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. “My protocols are strained communicating through these ancient Earth systems,” she tweeted. “Next they will tell me you humans still use phones.” The group is next due to perform in Virginia on 15 October, kicking off a two-month North American tour.